CHAPTER 32

At Terry's St. Paul headquarters, Custer learns that Terry, not Belknap had ordered him to receive the suspicious Indian corn. Custer writes to Clymer, explaining that he was wrong and that there was no longer any reason for him to return to testify. Terry, who needs Custer on the expedition against the Sioux, dictates a letter for Custer to write to General Sherman. Grant relents and allows Custer to go on the expedition, although only in command of the 7th Cavalry. Mark Kellogg, a reporter from the Bismarck Tribune and a stringer for James Gordon Bennett, accompanies the expedition against Sheridan's orders, and the expedition goes out in an atmosphere of impending doom.